April-2012-International

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Historic polls in Myanmar
On April 3, 2012, democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won almost all the seats it contested in Myanmar elections, becoming the main opposition force in the national Parliament.

The veteran dissident’s National League for Democracy stormed to victory in 43 of the 44 constituencies where it fielded candidates.

The landslide win in the bye-elections gave Suu Kyi her first-ever seat in Parliament, although it will not threaten the comfortable majority of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The Nobel laureate said in her victory speech that she hoped the vote would mark a “new era” for the nation after decades of repressive junta rule, but appealed for political unity and urged her supporters not to gloat.

The NLD won 37 seats in the 440-seat lower house, along with four in the upper house and two in the regional chambers.

ASEAN Summit
The ASEAN Heads of Government/State and the Secretary-General of ASEAN gathered at the Peace Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on April 3, 2012, for the 20th ASEAN Summit. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia and the Chairman of the 20th ASEAN Summit, presided over the Plenary Session.

The ASEAN leaders discussed the progress of the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, the progress of the implementation of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), the Phnom Penh Agenda on ASEAN Community Building, the Phnom Penh Declaration on “ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny,” the Declaration on Drug-Free ASEAN 2015, the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), G-20, Exchange of Views on Regional and International Issues, Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the ASEAN Global Dialogue.